A Lurid Tale
by Progeny of Darkness
Summary: AU. Kairi is gone, and Sora is worried. Riku escapes from Kingdom Hearts, but at what price? Riku tracks Sora down, and when he finds Kairi is missing, he isn't to happy. Throw in a prophecy, a giant duck and dog, Riku and Sora's mysteriously growing powe


_Well howdy, and welcome to my first ever attempt at a Kingdom Hearts Fanfiction. This story is an A/U, and will get progressively weirder as it goes on. But I do have a very good plot (for me) planned out._

_I'm not going to say that I'm a popular fic writer because I don't really have many fics out. However, I will say that I am going to try my hardest to make this a good read. Ok, on with the story._

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the other characters used in this fic.**_

Everywhere she looked was a cold, dark nothingness. She could not see or hear or feel. Her body felt numb, and when she tried to move she found that her legs felt leaden.

/_You found this place on your own?/ _It was a smooth male voice, one that made her body tense up and made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. With considerable effort she managed to whirl herself around, facing the fiend that waited in the dark.

_/Where am I?/_ Her voice sounded like it hadn't been used in quite a while.

_/You know where you are, child/_

_/No, I don't! Tell me where I am! / _She was panicking now, her fists clenching and unclenching at intervals, body jerking violently to keep from retching all over the nonexistent ground.

/_Nezame/_

_/What do you mean?! / _

_/Nezame! /_

The man . . . thing in front of her rushed forward and knocked into her with ferocity. She didn't have a chance to take a breath before all the oxygen was knocked out of her lungs. The last thing she saw of the man was a flash of his jewel-like eyes before she over balanced and the man shot off into the dark. Something wet was flowing into her eyes then, making them sting like a fiery maelstrom. It did not take her long to close them and swipe at them furiously. The sting in her right eye ceased after a few moments but her left eyes' pain only seemed to increase. With a gasp as the hurt reached a new level of intolerance, she clasped her right hand over her eye and clenched her teeth.

_Think....think Issuru....what should you do in this situation.....Blink...that's what I should do...._

Forcing her hand away from the injured eye was no easy task, and in the end she had to physically rip her hand of it with her other arm. She didn't see anything as she rapidly blinked her eyes in rapid succession. With a final blink, she closed her eyes firmly. The pain had subsided, finally, and she found that she could breathe again.

She stood there, arms hanging at her sides, eyes shut firmly closed, for six minutes before she finally worked up the courage to open her eyes. Cautiously she open the lids that covered the magnificent multicolored eyes. A searing pain filled her sight, and quite suddenly she could see through the darkness. Shadows lurked everywhere, and grunts of battles echoed through the air. Her muscles seized again and she dove to the side, some primal instinct directing her. Less than half a second later, claws flew past her neck, shearing off the long fiery red hair that grew there. It was now in cut in a ragged line right below her ear at an angle, but she didn't care. All she wanted was out. Her whole being was focused on that one single syllable.

Issuru did not realize she was running until she stumbled over one of the shadow creatures that sought to eat her heart. She didn't know how she knew it, but she knew that's what those creatures wanted. The thing jumped, launching for her chest. With a screech she thrust her hand out, not expecting anything to happen. But something did happen, a bright glow surrounded her hand and sent the creatures into oblivion. Seeing this, most of the other creatures fled in terror.

"Well that was interesting...THE HELL?!" There was a figure up ahead, silhouetted against a bright door-shaped thing of light. The figure was facing toward her, staring. His, for Issuru had determined that it was he, eyes gleamed with a silent message: Help Me.

All the indifference that she had built up over four years came to a crashing halt and she felt something foreign fill her heart. Without a second thought the young red headed woman took of running for the figure, intent on saving him from whatever was ailing him. But she wasn't to make it. Something was pulling the two of them apart, and a bubbling sense of anguish filled her senses. With a keening wail she was lurching, pulled backwards by an invisible force and carried out of the dark place of her imprisonment. And that was all she saw of that kind of darkness before her eyes rolled up in her head and she was knocked unconscious.

_Kid. Hey kid are you all right?! _The voice echoed through her consciousness with a groggy resonance, but she refused to acknowledge it. If she acknowledged that voice, that would mean she was acknowledging the pain that lurked in the realm beyond unconsciousness. She knew the voice was still calling her name, but she was content to listen as it faded away, while she, on the other hand, drifted back into the comfort of the dark.

Cid frowned in distaste and looked at the auburn beauty lying on the spare bed in his shop/home. He had been walking home when he saw a large flash of light and a crack. Figuring that the heartless were cornering another unfortunate victim, he had rushed over to the back alley in Traverse town to help the person. Much to his surprise he found the very pale and very unconscious young woman that was lying on his bed at this moment.

His brow crinkled again, putting a rather sour expression on his face. The girl was slightly familiar, but then again, she wasn't. She had long auburn hair on one side, and on the other it was slashed at an angle from just a little bit below her ear to her chin. She was fairly tall, but any figure she might have was obscured from the heavy black jacket that she wore. It was a fairly complex jacket, with a cacophony of buckles and zippers adorning it. Her pants were a black, tight leather with a belt around the top. The belt was adorned with empty pouches and a single, intricate buckle at the top. The buckle was pure silver with a keyblade and a strange, flag looking weapon crossed against each other etched into it. .Her boots were simple, black and leather with a single buckle etched with the same insignia on the top of each.

Suppressing a shiver, Cid wished for the third time that Leon would hurry up and get back with the others from Twilight town. He sighed, deciding to leave to leave the girl alone for a while and patrol the town. Ths decision was made more for his sanity than anything. After all, the girl had been unconscious for the better part of 4 days, and he doubted she was getting up any time soon. With that thought, the blond man pushed the door open and went into the chilly night air of Traverse Town.

Issuru finally came-to about thirteen minutes after Cid left. The first thing that she noticed as that she was warm. The second thing she noticed was that she wasn't in the dark place anymore. Cautiously, the red head cracked open one of her eyes. A soft light filtered through the shades of a nearby lamp, but to Issuru, it was a bright searchlight. Gritting her teeth she closed her eye and slowly sat up.

"Where am I?" she said slowly, voice cracking from years of disuse. No answer came so she sighed and steeled her resolve, opening both eyes slowly. It hurt, it hurt terribly, but Issuru would not allow herself to close her eyes.

"Dammit, you stupid light go out!" Her temper was frayed, and the pain was not helping the situation. Much to her surprise, the light did go out. It flickered and then disappeared with a muted pop. Now she could see much better, and the pain in her eyes subsided to a dull sting.

Standing up was another matter that needed to be attended to. She stood up slowly, making sure she wouldn't overbalance and fall forward. When she was satisfied, the girl took a few tentative steps towards the door. When she was satisfied with her ability yo walk again, Issuru strode towards the door and opened it. The lights were on in this room, but she found that her eyes could tolerate the light better after the initial shock. With only a slight grimace, she stepped over the threshold of the door and walked over to where a ladder hung down into another room. Slowly, Issuru descended the ladder and entered a different room.

The light in this room was brighter than the last, and she had to squint to see the sights of the room. Though they were cloaked slightly in a bright glare, she could make out the basics. A long counter was on her right, and the shelves behind it were stocked with all sorts of accessories and trinkets. To her left was a large fireplace that seemed to have been recently used. One of the gummi-ship transportation ports was in front of the fireplace. She took in the room slowly, and then started for the door. There was no reason for her to stay in a strange house that didn't belong to her.

Outside it was cool and dark. The wind whipped mercilessly at all that was in it's path, stinging the inhabitants of this world with cold . Issuru's jacket protected her however, and she merely buttoned the last button and pulled the collar up. She had no idea where she was, who she was, or where she was from. All she knew was that she was alive and that her name was Issuru. That was what one of those creatures had called her once, so she assumed that that was her name.

She walked along uneventfully, inspecting the place; shying away from people when they got too near. Most of them stared at her with a veiled awe. Shrugging it off, Issuru walked into some of the back alleyways. She eventually reached the second district, looking around with interest at the slightly changed landscape. Noting to inquiry about it later on, the girl walked into the main square.

The hairs on the back of her neck prickled up immediately, and a few moments later shadows had surrounded her completely. Their sulfurous, glowing, yellow eyes seemed to bore into her own and her stomach lurched; these were the same creatures as those in that dark world.

They bore down on her with a violent ferocity born out of the desire of malice. She dodged the first few easily, but quickly slowed down. Her breath came in short gasps, and she lost most of it as she howled in pain when a heartless managed to score her along the ribs. It was a shallow blow, and did not break the skin of the jacket, but it _was _powerful and it hurt her ribs immensely.

The evil shadow's quickly overwhelmed her, latching onto her body and clawing at her jacket. It was then that something inside her snapped. Her hands began to glow with a white-hot light, and a long, elegant silver weapon appeared in her hand. It was silver with the same marking as her belt buckle and boots etched onto the bottom in sapphire. The bottom was thick and blunt, and it went in a type of hourglass figure. The top opened up into a three pronged claw which held a glowing sapphire of huge proportions. Off the side of the blade protruded a translucent flag looking things with deadly looking edges.

Not bothering to question where the weapon came from , Issuru lashed out at the creatures, easily obliterating them. When she was finished she looked up to see a group of speechless people staring at her. Panic welled up in her stomach then. She had probably just done something wrong, and was going to pay for it with her life. Something inside her broken mind snapped together and she quickly swung the weapon in her hand in a horizontal cut. A rip portal, much like Riku's, opened up and she jumped through. With a muted click the portal closed, leaving a rattled Leon and company behind.

He had arrived a few minutes ago and had gone to find Cid. Instead, he had found the girl and the battle. Silently, he pondered what kind of web the return of the heartless would weave.

_Ok, right now im sure that im going to get flamed for Issuru being mary sueish, but bare with me for I have a plan, yes I do. MWAHHAAH. Ok, I know my writing is probably crap, but I really want to improve, so please leave me some constructive criticism. Oh yeah! I promise that Sora will show up in the next chapter. Sorry if the first chappie is short._

_PoD_


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